Reviews trusted by new parents and expanding families looking for the best family cars, family SUVs and 4x4s, and the most family-friendly utes in Australia
The Kia Stinger is super sleek and sporty but has a huge boot to rival a wagon or SUV and can fit two child seats. It’s hard to load your child in under that swooping low roof though! Fashion over function perhaps, but the interior is otherwise pretty well thought out Read More
The Kia Carnival is a practical eight-seater that will adapt with your growing family. Four big child seats fit nicely and there was ample legroom in all three rows. The boot is a strange shape but holds the same amount as in the Infiniti QX80, two more bags than the Nissan Pathfinder and three more than the Mazda CX-9 when using all eight seats. Read More
There was room for three child seats across the back row of the Mercedes-Benz X-Class, using ISOfix for the outer two, but it is worth bearing in mind the woven fabric top tether loops are a bit of a grey area and as with the Nissan Navara it is uncertain if they are tested to hold three child seats. Read More
The Hyundai Santa Fe is only an occasional seven-seater and more of an everyday five-seater with a nice big boot. Three child seats fit across the second-row seats, but there are no top tethers in the third row so I couldn’t install any child seats there. When using just five seats, the boot is a bit smaller than the Mazda CX-9 and bigger than the Kia Sorento but it’s tiny when using all seven seats. Read More
The Kia Cerato gets big ticks for interior space! Even with a rear-facing child seat installed, there was 26cm of knee room in the front passenger seat! The boot was surprisingly practical too, and I could fit 10 shopping bags from empty and even a big twin stroller alongside a shopping bag, so very user-friendly! Read More
Very surprisingly I could fit three child seats in the back of the Mazda6! I wasn’t expecting them to fit looking at the space but I got in the rear-facing Britax Graphene, the Maxi-Guard Pro and the Kid Guard Pro too! The boot fitted 12 shopping bags from empty, and each of the Mountain Buggy strollers fitted in the boot with fair amounts of shopping bags around them! Read More
Surprisingly, the little Mazda2 would hold a tandem stroller and two child seats with a little leg room Read More
In the five-seat 2018 Nissan X-Trail Ti, legroom is much better than the seven-seat ST-L model I also tried, with plenty of space for tall adults in front of rear-facing child seats, but I could only fit two child seats as it’s not very wide! Boot space is better than the Mazda CX-5, Subaru Forester, Honda CR-V and VW Tiguan Read More
The Infiniti QX80 is the luxury version of a Nissan Patrol, meaning it’s a VERY large seven-seat SUV! I could install four large Britax child seats and with all seven seats up, I managed to fit the huge Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller and three shopping bags in the boot as well! Read More
Ooh Velar! What a beautiful BabyDrive test car!! The 2018 Range Rover Velar was everything I hoped for, fabulous, opulent and luxurious! Apart from the light cream leather seating, it was surprisingly practical too! Read More
The Volkswagen Passat Alltrack wagon could only fit two child seats and the headrest design caused our Britax forward-facing child seat to tilt forwards slightly. It’s a shame as the boot and cabin storage is excellent, all the annoying beeps can be easily muted and it’s a great car to drive! Read More
There isn’t much to fault with the 2018 Subaru Outback, as it is a very practical family car! For interior and boot space it’s very generous and I could install three child seats in the back. There are ISOFix points in both the outer seats and top tether points in the backs of all three. They were easy to connect to apart from the central seatbelt coming from the ceiling. Read More
This 2018 Lexus NX300 looked great with its sparkling pearlescent paint and red leather interior! At a squeeze, I could fit three child seats across too! Boot space was surprisingly good, holding 12 shopping bags when empty and all configurations of tandem and single Britax Flexx strollers fitted with shopping bags alongside Read More
The 2019 Lexus RX350L is a seven-seat luxury SUV with four top tethers and Isofix in two of the seats but with child seats installed in the second row, there really wasn’t any legroom in the first and third rows. On the upside, boot space is comparable to a Mazda CX-9 and Nissan Pathfinder, and bigger than a Kia Sorento or Skoda Kodiaq Read More
The 2018 Mazda BT-50 is a simple and surprisingly nice ute, but I had to fit my own top tethers, there’s no Isofix and only two child seats can fit in the back. I could fit more strollers and shopping bags into the BT-50’s tray than the Navara and Triton, it matched the Hilux but held less than the Amarok and Colorado Read More
The new Holden ZB Commodore is the first one to be made in Germany rather than Australia and I really like it! Apart from all its beeping, moaning baby-waking alarms it is a very practical BabyDrive! Read More
The 2018 Subaru Forester stacked up as a pretty good BabyDrive, and fitted three child seats easily in the back. With rear-facing child seats installed, the legroom was enough for a 184cm driver to sit in front of them. The boot of the Forester didn’t look like it was very big but it was actually quite deceiving! Read More
The BMW X2 is a compact little SUV, and what I really liked about it was that although it is very small, everything in it was very functional. Read More
The Mazda3 is a very popular car so I was very keen to give it a test for BabyDrive! I drove the hatch, a compact little car which for its price is actually very good. Read More
I went to the Cricks Honda dealership in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast where they very kindly let me test the Honda HR-V for BabyDrive! Read More
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